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Small New York Town Makes English the Law

I look forward to Americans learning English. Great oaks from little acorns grow.....
 
erod said:
"si quieres hablar con alguien en español, oprima el dos"

every.....stinking......phone call......to a business.
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omg say it isn't so!!!!
 
Boo Radley said:
Wouldn't argue they don't have the right, but would and do laugh at their silliness in doing so.
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Why is it silly? Why have to print things in 2 languages? If anything it's a good thing because it forces people to learn proper English. Having an official language is a good thing.
 
digsbe said:
Why is it silly? Why have to print things in 2 languages? If anything it's a good thing because it forces people to learn proper English. Having an official language is a good thing.
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You have a job to do, you do what is needed to to do that job. And they will continue to do so. The law, as it was in Iowa, is merely show. Nothing will actually change.
 
digsbe said:
They have the right to do so.
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They also have the right to make a pink-poka-dot day celebration.

Noone is arguing they don't have the right, but we also have the right to laugh at their absurdness too.
 
Erod said:
"Si quieres hablar con alguien en español, oprima el dos"

Every.....stinking......phone call......to a business.
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Of course, in that part of New York, bi-lingual means English/French.
 
ludahai said:
What is silly about doing something many states have already done and the national government SHOULD do???
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I have explained what is silly about it. So, you skip that go with we should follow the crowd? Right over the edge?

Look, it's wasteful spending, does nothing effectively, and is only a let me feel superior legislation. Nothing more.
 
Boo Radley said:
I have explained what is silly about it. So, you skip that go with we should follow the crowd? Right over the edge?

Look, it's wasteful spending, does nothing effectively, and is only a let me feel superior legislation. Nothing more.
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It is not wasteful spending declaring an official language. Many states around the world have official languages -- including the one I presently reside in. Why shouldn't there be an official language in the United States. Do you think preparing driver's license exams in a dozen languages and then administering such tests is cheap? Passing a local ordinance? How expensive is that? How is THAT wasteful spending?
 
RightinNYC said:
No, I need you to link me to something saying that because the town passed a law saying that official town business must be conducted in English, nobody in town can use US bills that have any latin writing on them. See how that's different from what you said?
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I was taking the idea behind the law to its logical extreme though ironically absurd conclusion. The words 'town business' jumped out at me and I thought, don't we see a foreign language every time we conduct business.

And my other question: What 'town business' was not being conducted in English? For a tiny town with no business district, it just seemed like passing a law against jumping from skyscrapers.
 
ludahai said:
It is not wasteful spending declaring an official language. Many states around the world have official languages -- including the one I presently reside in. Why shouldn't there be an official language in the United States. Do you think preparing driver's license exams in a dozen languages and then administering such tests is cheap? Passing a local ordinance? How expensive is that? How is THAT wasteful spending?
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Needless spending is wasteful spending. Documents are already printed in English. No English speaker has any trouble getting a document in English. Those who need something else will still get something else as state business won't stop for the personal prejudice of a minority, even for the prejudices of a majority. The same number of exams and other documents will still be printed, even if they really do away with foreign language documents, which they really won't.

Again, as this will change absolutely nothing, it is needless spending, and needless spending is wasteful spending.
 
Boo Radley said:
Needless spending is wasteful spending. Documents are already printed in English. No English speaker has any trouble getting a document in English. Those who need something else will still get something else as state business won't stop for the personal prejudice of a minority, even for the prejudices of a majority. The same number of exams and other documents will still be printed, even if they really do away with foreign language documents, which they really won't.

Again, as this will change absolutely nothing, it is needless spending, and needless spending is wasteful spending.
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How much spending do you suppose went into passing this local ordinance?
 
ludahai said:
How much spending do you suppose went into passing this local ordinance?
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In Iowa, when they passed the Bill, it was reported a couple of million was spent, and the bill changed nothing. Hence my thought that it was wasteful.

English speakers face no problem getting things printed in English. All government documents are in English accept when they need something else. After the legislation, they still have need from time to time, and still meet that need. Such legislation isn't worth the paper it's written on, let alone large sums of money.
 
Boo Radley said:
In Iowa, when they passed the Bill, it was reported a couple of million was spent, and the bill changed nothing. Hence my thought that it was wasteful.

English speakers face no problem getting things printed in English. All government documents are in English accept when they need something else. After the legislation, they still have need from time to time, and still meet that need. Such legislation isn't worth the paper it's written on, let alone large sums of money.
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1. This is a local ordinance in what is apparently a small town, not a state. This is likely to cost VERY little, if anything. You say "large sums of money", but you have been unable to convince me that this action by a small town will have that cost.

2. This isn't about English speakers. This is about putting in place measures requiring immigrants to learn English and to ensure that all government services are provided in English and only English.

I would support state laws requiring English for all state documents, including driver's license tests. We know the national government won't do the right thing in this regard.
 
ludahai said:
1. This is a local ordinance in what is apparently a small town, not a state. This is likely to cost VERY little, if anything. You say "large sums of money", but you have been unable to convince me that this action by a small town will have that cost.

2. This isn't about English speakers. This is about putting in place measures requiring immigrants to learn English and to ensure that all government services are provided in English and only English.

I would support state laws requiring English for all state documents, including driver's license tests. We know the national government won't do the right thing in this regard.
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I have no idea what money they actually spent, but it has to have some cost. And in a free country, you can't really mandate that. Not only that, historically, people have come here not knowing the language. Historically, their children learned the language.

This is about prejudice more than anything else. It hurts us in no way to accommodate more than one language. No one is hurt by knowing more than one.

There is little to nothing right about this movement. It is sheer ethnocentrism and hubris.
 
Boo Radley said:
I have no idea what money they actually spent, but it has to have some cost. And in a free country, you can't really mandate that. Not only that, historically, people have come here not knowing the language. Historically, their children learned the language.
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You can mandate government services. You can't mandate what private businesses do.

This is about prejudice more than anything else. It hurts us in no way to accommodate more than one language. No one is hurt by knowing more than one.
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Except the tax dollars spent in providing services in multiple languages. In most instances, it doesn't need to be done. This is not about KNOWING languages. I speak several languages and of course encourage people to learn multiple languages. However, this law is not about the learning of foreign languages by Americans, is it?


There is little to nothing right about this movement. It is sheer ethnocentrism and hubris.
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Of course, ignoring the fact that most of the countries that these immigrants are coming from have similar or even more stringent language policies.
 
ludahai said:
You can mandate government services. You can't mandate what private businesses do.
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Government has the same needs business has. While you may do so, it would be ineffective, which is why these rules generally are meaningless. Most often there is a clause that states something to the effect: unless need be. You can't expect people doing the work to be as silly as the general populace.

Except the tax dollars spent in providing services in multiple languages. In most instances, it doesn't need to be done. This is not about KNOWING languages. I speak several languages and of course encourage people to learn multiple languages. However, this law is not about the learning of foreign languages by Americans, is it?
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Again, they will still be printing the forms, no matter what language. And they will print any they need regardless.


Of course, ignoring the fact that most of the countries that these immigrants are coming from have similar or even more stringent language policies.
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Also meaningless, not mention kind of a generalization without proper support. But more importantly meaningless.
 
Should San Antonio, and other Latino cities like it, pass a law to make all government business in Spanish? Should Gary, Indiana pass a law making Ebonics the official language? Should San Francisco pass a law requiring everyone to slur?
 
i've made a change of heart and i retract my other statements

honestly i think it was un-necessary for this small town to make english the official language

new york is close to the canadian province of quebec. what if french speakers go into the city?

they won't know where to go and it would only make things harder for them. plus spanish speakers deserve to know what things say as well.
 
Alex said:
Should San Antonio, and other Latino cities like it, pass a law to make all government business in Spanish? Should Gary, Indiana pass a law making Ebonics the official language? Should San Francisco pass a law requiring everyone to slur?
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:2rofll::2rofll::2rofll::2rofll:

:doh
 
Alex said:
Should San Antonio, and other Latino cities like it, pass a law to make all government business in Spanish? Should Gary, Indiana pass a law making Ebonics the official language? Should San Francisco pass a law requiring everyone to slur?
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Are you saying that San Fran has too many drunks?
 
ludahai said:
How much spending do you suppose went into passing this local ordinance?
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About the same as is spent every time a town board commemorates a local little league team on an 11-3 season.

Far less than is spent every time Congress passes a bill doing the same.
 
Alex said:
Should San Antonio, and other Latino cities like it, pass a law to make all government business in Spanish? Should Gary, Indiana pass a law making Ebonics the official language? Should San Francisco pass a law requiring everyone to slur?
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That last one was really good
 
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